Kokou Ferdinand Makouvia

Presentation

Kokou Ferdinand Makouvia is a sculptor from Togo, born in Lomé in 1989. Makouvia is the sculptural revelation of 2017: he arrived in France in 2014 and settled in Valenciennes, where he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts and began exhibiting his work. In 2016, he entered the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 2017, he won four prestigious art prizes in quick succession, including the Salon de Montrouge and the Prix Dauphine for contemporary art. He was also named "Révélation ADAGP Arts Plastiques 2017". This practice has its origins in contemporary African art, but rather than objects of social denunciation, Makouvia's non-figurative pieces scrutinize matter and form in search of a harmonious and essential aesthetic, interacting with space and expressing the strength of raw material. On the subject of material, the artist declares: "In my practice, the element as material challenges me. In fact, I take two or more materials of different essences (such as wood and rubber, for example), and then experiment by giving shape to the whole they form. They cohabit, they reject each other, they marry and they merge. Makouvia lives and works in Amsterdam